The present disclosure relates to a technique for disambiguating information associated with multiple entities based on financial interactions among a set of entities. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a technique for determining that two entities (such as businesses) are a common entity.
Data is increasingly viewed as a valuable business asset. For example, data associated with financial transaction histories of entities (such as individuals, businesses and/or organizations) can, in principle, be leveraged to provide improved services, such as targeted advertising and promotions that are provided to the entities or individuals associated with the entities.
However, in practice these efforts can be hampered by the complexities of the data. In particular, the financial transaction histories may be associated with multiple accounts for different applications. While differences in the account information may make it appear as if these accounts are associated with different entities, they may in fact be associated with a common entity. For example, there may be spelling errors in the account information and/or the accounts may have been established at different times and the account information may have changed.
The presence of such redundant entities in the data may make it difficult to leverage the financial transaction histories. Notably, differences in the account information for seemingly different entities (which are in fact associated with a common entity) may hamper attempts to determine statistical associations in the data and, thus, may interfere with efforts to provide services based on the financial transaction histories. For example, the different entities may have different addresses, which may make it difficult to accurately target advertisements to the common entity. Moreover, the presence of redundant and/or erroneous data in the financial transaction histories may reduce the relevancy or usefulness of targeted advertisements and/or services that are provided to the entities.